Hi there Internet family. I could not watch this match and won’t be able to watch any of the Olympics due to time difference and work responsibilities. Also there probably won’t be any highlights on youtube as the BBC is clamping down hard on copyright. I’m not too destroyed about it. As long as I can watch the North American hard court season and especially the US Open I’d be a happy camper. This week I was still very busy and didn’t have time to make a post about the draw yet. You can see the draw here . Roger’s draw looks pretty damn good.

Djokovic, Murray, Tsonga, and Berdych are all in the bottom half, and of course Nadal isn’t playing. I mean he couldn’t have asked for a much better draw. Today against Fella it wasn’t all smooth sailing though. Falla almost beat Roger in the first round at Wimbledon 2010 so we know he can be dangerous. But I would have never expected that he could beat Roger at the Olympics after the year Roger has been having. So things pretty much turned out as expected. From what I hear Roger was up 5-3 and 40-0 on the Falla serve in the second set, but failed to take his three match points.

He then proceeded to lose serve when serving for the match at 5-4, and at 5-5 he was up 40-0 on the Falla serve once more, but could not break. So clearly there was a big slump in his concentration during that period. That doesn’t concern me however. It is just the first round and Roger must have thought he had the match won at 5-3. He ended up staying out there longer than he needed to, but I’m fine with it as long as he got the win. We have seen this kind of thing happen in the latter part of Roger’s career, but the important thing is that in 2012 he doesn’t lose those matches.

So all in all I’m happy with his performance, even though I didn’t get to watch. Playing a three set match in the first round and spending some time out there may not be a bad thing. We know Roger plays well after a match like this. I think in the next round against Benneteau he gets the job done in straight sets. I don’t expect this match to be anything like that close encounter they had at Wimbledon. Probably JesusFed will show up and destroy Benneteau in straight sets, just to make it clear that he was far from his best against Benneteau at Wimbledon. Once again I have a good feeling for Roger about the Olympics.

The draw has gone his way and he will feel very confident playing on the stage where he just won his 17th slam. It seems the stars has once again aligned for Roger to win this title. The fact that this is three set format makes things a bit more tricky, but I think he wins it anyway. I guess someone like Isner could make it tricky for him over a three set format when he plays out of his mind. We will just have to see. But his toughest match will probably in the final. Before that there isn’t really anyone who should cause him any major problems. It will be interesting to see who he faces in the final if he gets that far.

Will it be Murray again? Or is Murray gonna slump again after the Wimby final? Will it be Djokovic? Or does he not want another beating at the hands of the GOAT after Wimby? It may even be Tsonga. Berdych already lost today against Darcis. I kinda hope it’s Djokovic in the final and Roger beats him again. That would really be the ideal scenario after Roger took three losses in a row to Djokovic at the US Open, Rome, and French Open. How important is it for Roger to win the Olympics? As far as I’m concerned not very important since he already has Olympic gold, and guys like Massu and Rosset has won the Olympics.

But it would make his resume just that little bit more rounded.

Hi there Fedfamily, I hope you guys are doing well. I feel like I owe you a post. It’s nice to see you guys leaving comments on my blog even though I’m not posting. There is the Fedfamily as a whole and then there is the Fedfamily of this blog, which have a unique flavor to it. I appreciate you all hanging around while I’m making some big changes in my life and I’m happy with how things have worked out. I have settled more over here in the US now and will be staying in one place from now on at my new job with regular hours. This will make it a lot easier for me to blog and keep up with the tennis world.

We are currently at a very exciting and privileged place as Fedfans. We were waiting for #17 for a long time and wasn’t sure anymore if it would come. But it all came together for Roger and us at that special tennis court which is the centre court of Wimbledon. All those tough losses and frustration was suddenly all worth it. We hung in there and came out triumphant. So I am proud of you guys and proud of Roger. It was all just so peRFect and worth reliving again and again. A 17th slam title, a 7th Wimby title, and back at the top of the rankings. Simply amazing. In a sene this is the best time to be a Fedfan.

This is like the third coming of Roger. First he was in his prime where he was piling up the slam titles one after the other, looking unstoppable. Then a certain Spaniard showed up who turned out to be Roger’s nemesis. He broke Roger’s heart at Wimby ’08 and then went on to shatter it at the Australian Open the following year. It was desperate times but the second coming was at hand. Roger went on to win his first French Open to complete the career slam and then broke Sampras’ slam record at Wimbledon right after. As Fedfans we were triumphant once more. Our waiting had paid off.

Roger then added one more slams to his tally at the following year’s Australian Open after losing it in such a heart breaking fashion the year before. It seemed things couldn’t get any better, but we wanted more. Roger then went through another ‘slump’, but this one was much longer. He was slamless for more than two years, suffering many tough losses in the process. It all started turning around after the US Open last year. Since then Roger has been on an incredible run, and it was really just a question of time before he would break through at slam level again. As of the beginning of this week he broke Sampras’ record of 286 weeks at #1.

Since the rankings only changes at the beginning of each week he is guaranteed to stay at #1 for a 287th week. Yet another incredible achievement. This all at 30 years of age in a brutal sport where there are always young players looking to make a name for themselves. I mean physically and mentally it is one of the toughest sports out there, which is why so few players achieve much after the age of 30. Yet here is Roger at age 30 winning the most prestigious tournament in the world and is right back on top of the tennis world. Unreal. Where do we go from here? Well as Fedfans we remain greedy. We always want more, no matter how much Roger achieves.

And there is nothing wrong with it. We have to keep setting new standards if we don’t want to stagnate. Why settle for less if we can have more? Realistically Roger can win more slams, so there is no need to be satisfied right now. This is the third coming of Roger and we want it to last as long as possible. We have waited long enough for it. So next up is the Olympic Games which is kinda special because it will be held at Wimbledon. The Olympics is not particularly special to me as a fan, but it would just make Roger’s resume that more complete if he does have a gold medal in singles. And I really like his chances.

He is coming freshly off center court from a 7th Wimbledon title and must be the overwhelming favorite for the title. Especially after Nadal withdrew. I also read today that Nadal will take a 15 day break to recover from his injury that he apparently got at Wimbledon. I guess Nadal is always injured after he loses. The bottom line is he played well against Rosol and was beaten by the better player. There is no doubt about it. This is now the same thing that happened after another shock loss to Soderling at the French Open. He skipped Wimbledon that year as well. I’m starting to think it is his ego that is hurt, not his body.

I mean Nadal always seems to be injured anyway. I just don’t trust the guy. Anyway it is a big loss to the event and Roger would have had a good chance at beating Nadal at the Olympics. So it’s a shame he isn’t playing, but it also helps Roger’s chances. We saw what happened after Nadal lost at Wimbledon and now he is out of the Olympics. The stars are once again aligning for Roger. I’m not trying to jinx him or anything folks. I just have a good feeling about it. But for me the big one is the US Open. If he wins that it will confirm that he is back for good. Nadal already looks like he won’t be much of a factor there, although you can never really tell with him.

If he does take off 15 days it means he will miss Toronto and maybe even Cincy. That wouldn’t help his preparation for the US Open and he may well lose before the semis. But even if he does end up playing Roger there it would be a good opportunity for Roger to beat him. I think after what transpired the last three years at the US Open Roger badly wants that title and he is almost destined to win it. I also hear the conditions may be faster there this year which will also help him. We will just have to see. I think until the end of the year Roger can win several more events. His best chances will come at the Olympics, Cincinnati, the US Open, Basel, and the Masters Cup.

But of course he will have chances at Toronto, Shanghai, and Paris too. I think he can realistically win five of the events left that there is to play. But mostly I want to see him win the US Open. If that is the only tournament he wins until the end of the year I’d already be a happy camper. And then of course I want him to end the year ranked #1. For that he may need to win two more events, which is easily doable. There is an exciting time ahead now until the end of the year. We have realistic hopes now of him doing great things until then. Like I said, the US Open is the key. If he wins there then you can expect a lot more from him in 2013…

Hey guys I have some time off of late and I thought I’d make another post about Wimbledon. It certainly deserves another. In my book it was the best Wimbledon ever. The year Ivanisevic won was pretty special. In 2009 when Roger broke the slam record I thought it was the ultimate. But I liked this Wimbledon even better. First of all Nadal lost in the second round to a rampant Rosol. That already makes it a pretty special Wimbledon, but that was just the start. I predicted things would improve for Roger as soon as the grass court season started, but I also knew the Nadal factor was there.

So when Nadal lost I knew here was a big opportunity for Roger. Djokovic was still in his way, but I felt Roger was the favorite on grass, knowing that there would be no Nadal waiting for him in the final. But first there was the Benneteau match. This match was the key to the championship for Roger. He came within two points of losing in the fourth set. I remember watching it and asking Roger why he is putting me through this. He really flirted with disaster in that match. But it was one of those mentally tough matches that we have gotten used to from Roger 3.0. It was the kind of match that Roger 2.0 would have lost.

Roger 2.0 just lacked that extra motivation that was needed to get through this kind of match. That extra will to win. I don’t know why that will ever went away. I think it may be because of the demoralizing losses he suffered to Nadal. He needed some time to recover from them. And since the US Open last year he seemed to have gotten rid of those demons. I call him Roger 3.0 since then because he turned over a new leaf. His heart was back in it. He was willing to grind out a match on those days when things didn’t go his way. His will to win was back. And that made all the difference.

It gave him a new confidence. It lifted his whole game. He is almost back in his prime since then. He still has his off days but now grinds it out instead of giving in. The match against Benneteau was the key because he came so close to losing, but he willed himself to win. That gave him confidence because he knew he could trust himself when it mattered. In the next match against Malisse he had the injury scare, but when he came through it I believed it would be ok. And in the next match against Youzhny he was already over it. JesusFed was back, just in time for the all important Djokovic semi-final.

I felt he was the favorite for this match even though many doubted him. I predicted long before this match that Roger would teach Djokovic lesson in grass court tennis, and that is what happened. He didn’t have the burden on him of having to deal with Nadal in the final, so he could just focus fully on that match, knowing that if he won it it would probably be good enough to win the title. So I’m sure he pretty much treated that match as the final. I knew Roger was simply a better grass court player than Djokovic, and on a good day he would win. He didn’t have much trouble in beating Djokovic either.

He almost ran away with that fourth set as he had opportunities to get the double break. After he won that he still had Murray to take care of who was the British hope, and who was playing some good tennis. But I knew Roger wanted this badly and would rise to the occasion. That’s what he did and the rest is history. After winning the second set it was pretty straight forward. From the quarter finals onwards, which is the business end of slams, it was a masterclass of grass court tennis by the best grass court tennis player in history. And here is the stats to prove it:

[QUOTE=Juz78;12205259]

Wimbledon titles
Federer – 7
Sampras – 7

Wimbledon finals
Federer – 8
Sampras – 7

Wimbledon semi finals
Federer – 8
Sampras – 8

Consecutive Wimbledon titles
Federer – 5
Sampras – 4
NOTE : Sampras had 2 runs, one of 3 straight titles and one of 4. Fed had one run.

Wimbledon win-loss record
Federer – 67-7
Sampras – 63-7

Grass titles outside Wimbledon
Federer – 5
Sampras – 3[/QUOTE]

http://www.menstennisforums.com/showthread.php?p=12205259#post12205259

Something that got left out above is that Roger has a 1-0 head-to-head record over Sampras on grass. There can be no doubt now that Roger is the greatest on grass. The numbers don’t lie. But I also think he is the greatest ever now. He denied that in a roundabout way in an interview and rightly so, because it’s difficult to compare eras and he was being respectful to past greats. But he is the best of this era anyway and this may just be the strongest era ever. You have Nadal who is surely the clay GOAT and now you have Djokovic too. I think Roger and Nadal are the GOAT and the clay GOAT. It just makes sense.

They have utterly dominated their era, and now Djokovic is also coming to the party. It’s a great time for tennis. Murray is also catching up. I don’t care whether Roger wins any more slams from here on. This Wimby title was really the cherry on top. That doesn’t mean that he can’t win any more slams. I think he can add at least one more. In fact I’d like to see him aim for 20. And you certainly won’t put it beyond Roger. I just think this Wimbledon title was extremely special and it gave me a feeling of completeness and saturation. The 16 slam titles was already very satisfying, but something was still missing.

Winning #17 at Wimbledon, equalling Sampras’ 7 Wimby titles, and equalling his number of weeks at number one just had that peRFect feeling about it. It all just came together, as if it was destiny. But of course there are always new challenges and new things to achieve. For instance the upcoming Olympics and US Open. Then there is also the 6 year end number ones of Sampras. Things can always be more perfect. The Olympic gold in singles, a slam record of his own, and the 6 years as number one can all be viewed as things that are still missing from his resume. It doesn’t matter much. It would just be nice if he gets them.

And who would bet against him achieving them? He will be a huge favorite at the Olympics which will also be played at Wimbledon. The same goes for winning the US Open. And his chances of ending the year ranked number one is pretty good you’d have to say. I am excited for the rest of this year. Roger must be super confident and relaxed right now and I believe he will achieve much more this year. He may even dominate proceedings completely from here on, like in his prime. He is back where he belongs at #1. I think he’d like to stay a while…